In high school and throughout the nation, countless acts of violence have directly related to the distribution of automated weaponry. Views on gun regulation were once a small whisper, compared to recemt cries for reform; they have grown into a bellowing cry for change. Groups like the American Bar Association and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence have hosted numerous events in the past few months striving for a change to the current laws in order to prevent another tragic event from occurring in the future.
Texas was the first state to allow teachers to carry guns in schools after the Sandy Hooks Massacre, which claimed the lives of 33 elementary students in 2012. Star Telegram news, the news provider in Texas, broadcast that governor Rick Perry made a statement that guns were necessary for the protection of their students. This has created a debate nationwide over whether we should allow teachers ability to defend their own students or leave it to the professionals. More than eighteen states have already permitted teachers to carry weapons after a small course in the weapons usage and protection. Many believe that these systems are insufficient and a person who isn’t a part of law enforcement shouldn’t be able to choose to shoot someone and possibly kill them or let them live and risk the lives of others.
The drive for regulation reform has become more and more apparent especially after events like the Columbine shooting and University of Texas shooting. Schools are being seen as dangerous environments for students. Laws making teachers have gun training, To having an armed guard in every school, To requiring everyone associated with schools and education to present records of gun ownership. An Array of strategies are coming up on what to do to oppose this rise in school related gun violence. All these laws and plans have been instituted somewhere throughout the nation. However, cries for a unified system far outweigh those for individualized state by state systems.
The current laws in place on gun control are regulated by individual states. Since gun regulation is defended in the constitution; its a small loophole when it is practiced for states to create the regulations. These regulations in Nevada include the protection of weapons from falling into the possession of a minor. Although Nevada law doesn’t require any form of permit to be required in order to purchase a weapon, whether it was a handgun or a machine gun, other states such as California or Oregon can choose to not recognize Nevada permit as they can choose to not recognize a drivers license or permit. Since they don’t have to recognize another states regulations, citizens of another state such as Utah could come into Nevada, purchase a gun, and return to their state and have it technically be legal. Other loopholes exist that help defend the protection of those from gun violence like the dispute over the definition of arms within the section from the 2nd amendment of “Right to Bare Arms”. Since arms means able to cause violence or harm to an individual, but cannot cause mass destruction, they debate if whether multi shot weapons cause mass destruction.
Officials are also discussing in Congress and in the White House whether certain weapon events should be banned because of their promotion of weapons. Garen Wintermute said that Gun shows sales account for over 30 percent of all weapons used in crimes. Currently individuals who sell guns at gun shows, but do not claim it to be their main form of income do not require any form of ID for the purchasing of the said weapon. Meaning that any individual could purchase a gun from anther individual without any public record of the sale. Officials stress upon these numbers and others that connect gun sales in gun shows to large weapon trafficking rings. Officials then have to question whether to ban gun shows and possibly lower the amount of guns in circulation or take them away from those who were purchasing weapons for sport or recreational means.
With the greater creation of new technology a debate has been raised over whether regulation on gun control should be changed in order to outfit to the changing times. NPR reported on February 6 that 3D printing services has grown immensely since its creation just a few years back. However, more and more cases of 3D printers being used in the creation of guns are coming to light. Though a plastic pistol would shatter after first use, the creation of a certain part of the gun such as the Glock conversion device which allows the normal Glock pistol to become a machine gun, are able to be created out of plastic and cannot be regulated in their printing.
On February 11 a shooter shot up a Delaware Courthouse to protest to the new gun control laws that were being discussed there, on February 21 a shooting between cars occurred between two cars causing a multiple car crash and the death of three people in Las Vegas. February 19, 4 are presumed dead in California after a deadly shooting in Tustin. in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 19 a fifteen year old boy kills five in a mass homicide shooting before being captured by police, he killed his entire family before they arrived. The number of cases that involve guns has grown over the past decade and it no longer becomes a question of whether we should reform the current gun laws, but what to reform?
